1. Field of the Inventions
The present invention relates to devices for physically storing, and electrically connecting to, solid-state memory cards.
2. Description of the Related Art
Memory cards with non-volatile memory, such as flash memory, are becoming increasingly popular for digital imaging and music applications. Examples of existing types of memory cards include PCMCIA, both type I and II, CF (Compact Flash), SD (Secure Digital), XD, MMC (Memory Media Card), SM (smart memory). Personal computers often have readers for specific types of memory cards. Typically, these readers only permit the PC to access a single card at a time.
Memory cards have found numerous applications in digital imaging, digital photography, video storage, music storage, and as portable data media. As the popularity of these devices has grown, individuals often have many cards to deal with at a time. For example, digital photographers commonly keep several Compact Flash or Secure Digital cards in their camera bags or another handy place. Because a photographer will commonly use different memory cards with different cameras, and/or will change the cards frequently, the task of organizing and locating the memory cards can be burdensome. In addition, the memory cards can easily be damaged, resulting in a loss of data. Similar problems exist with other applications in which users commonly have multiple memory cards.